Crabbing

[Cowpokey]

Dang, now I'm jealous! I will catch crab this year!!! It is now my mission.

[KDT88]

I caught 16 crabs today! Only 8 short of my two dozen mark. Out of all those crabs only one died. Of course it was the biggest one of the day 18 1/2 inches from claw to claw and 8 inches from point to point. However I spent all day catching them because I didn't get out early enough. Everyone I see you coming back in has half bushels to bushels of crabs. They all have all the lines set around 430 to 5 AM. Next time I need to get started a lot earlier but anyways here's some pics from today along with that monster crab! I will reach my two dozen mark next time!!!!


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[BeyondTheBounds]

Just need to get my trot line swing arm built and I'm ready...got some good pointers from this thread. Thanks


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[KDT88]

Just need to get my trot line swing arm built and I'm ready...got some good pointers from this thread. Thanks


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No problem man. Love helping out when I can and that ain't much. Lol. Good luck


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[sparky1423]

Great work! Now I'm itching to try a trotline. Just seems like an insane amount of gear. I've been watching all the videos on youtube, but still can't wrap my head around how to fit everything on the yak. I have the same yak so these pics are really helping. I was using traps this weekend and they are cumbersome, I sometimes get the lines tangled....can't imagine not tangling a trotline

[echo5oscar]

Moc makes it look easy. He has refined his method. That's who I'd build my set up after if I were going to crab.

[Cowpokey]

Great work! Now I'm itching to try a trotline. Just seems like an insane amount of gear. I've been watching all the videos on youtube, but still can't wrap my head around how to fit everything on the yak. I have the same yak so these pics are really helping. I was using traps this weekend and they are cumbersome, I sometimes get the lines tangled....can't imagine not tangling a trotline

I'm with you, I'm going to build trot line and PVC arm soon.

How long does the crab season go around here? Not by regulations, I can read those, but by actually catching regular numbers of healthy eater crabs?

[gmore1012]

Man you guys have it down to a science. I wouldnt even consider trying to run a trotline on my kayak, got the boat for that. As far as crab season august to october are the best months but you need to be deep 10-18ft if water. Im hanging up crabbing till august most likely, it just plain sucks right now and cant justify getting up at 330 to crab for half a bushel. As far as spots on the Severn any spot worth having is usually gone before the sun comes up on weekends, the best crabbing around jonas is under the bridge and next to channel markers or creeks.

[RavensDfense]

How long does the crab season go around here?

Commercial guys crab a couple of weeks into October, but as someone mentioned earlier the crabs begin to move deeper as the water cools. My father typically uses a snood line when crabbing deeper to reduce the number of crabs that drop off when being pulled up from deeper water. August and September seem to be some of the best months to go; with many crabs being fat, rusty and still in shallow water. I would like to give it a try, also. Lay 1200' of line and fish in between runs. I think I would use bull lip instead of chicken necks to get a trip or two more out of each bait up.

[jhoss]

Great work! Now I'm itching to try a trotline. Just seems like an insane amount of gear. I've been watching all the videos on youtube, but still can't wrap my head around how to fit everything on the yak. I have the same yak so these pics are really helping. I was using traps this weekend and they are cumbersome, I sometimes get the lines tangled....can't imagine not tangling a trotline

It's not as much gear as you'd think. I just bait my spool with necks by rolling it out in the yard. (See Alan's repost for pics) Then I throw it in the freezer until I'm gonna go. So I have the trotline on a spool, weights and buoys for the ends of the line a net, the pvc arm for the line to run on a basket to put crabs in.....ok so it is a good bit of stuff. The real problem is when you go and try to ring fishing stuff too.

[thedutchtouch]

hopefully this is OK to jump in here rather than starting a new thread, but do any of you trotlining kayakers use 'traditional' paddled kayaks? or are you all peddle drive kayakers? and if so how do you handle paddling and scooping crabs off the line all at once? any videos? thanks in advance, i look forward to learning from you all

[jhoss]

hopefully this is OK to jump in here rather than starting a new thread, but do any of you trotlining kayakers use 'traditional' paddled kayaks? or are you all peddle drive kayakers? and if so how do you handle paddling and scooping crabs off the line all at once? any videos? thanks in advance, i look forward to learning from you all

See the post yakfish bumped a few days ago, you should be able to see my setup on my paddle yak from awhile back. It is doable, but a little more work than is worth it unless the crabs a running good. Sorry no videos.
Good luck,

[BeyondTheBounds]

That helps me even more thanks for mentioning that bumped thread. I was able to see that keeping the swing arm closer to the water, likely helped the results....should be able to easily rig my stakeout pole with a hook. Was nice to see the deployment.

Good or bad I'll be shooting video.

No big freezer here....so do I deploy the line with frozen necks or does it matter?


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[thedutchtouch]

See the post yakfish bumped a few days ago, you should be able to see my setup on my paddle yak from awhile back. It is doable, but a little more work than is worth it unless the crabs a running good. Sorry no videos.
Good luck,

Thanks I looked through that thread, helpful but seems like a motor or foot driven boat is the way to go. Won't really work in the sit I side skin on frame boat I'm building, perhaps I'll stick to traps and hand lines.

That helps me even more thanks for mentioning that bumped thread. I was able to see that keeping the swing arm closer to the water, likely helped the results....should be able to easily rig my stakeout pole with a hook. Was nice to see the deployment.

Good or bad I'll be shooting video.

No big freezer here....so do I deploy the line with frozen necks or does it matter?


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While I've never crabbed from a kayak yet, I have crabbed before... If you're tying the necks on thawed then freezing you'll probably be fine, they start to thaw right away. If you tie them on frozen they may be too lose when thawed and easily stolen/fall off.

[sparky1423]

They should add a Kayak Crabbing section in the forum